Political Notebook: Gay Republicans endorse Tony Hall for SF
mayor

NEWS

by Matthew S. Bajko

Tony Hall, the most
conservative of the top 11 candidates seeking to become San Francisco's next
mayor, has secured the number one endorsement from the local Log Cabin
Republicans' chapter.

The gay GOP group voted last week to endorse the former
supervisor and city administrator after hearing a last-minute pitch from
interim Mayor Ed Lee during its August
24 meeting. Lee, whose integrity has been attacked for dropping his pledge not
to seek a full term, won Log Cabin's third place endorsement.

Rounding out the ranked-choice voting nods is former
Supervisor Michela Alioto-Pier, who
secured a second place endorsement from Log Cabin. Although none of the three
candidates are GOP members, the gay political club can endorse anyone
regardless of their political affiliation in nonpartisan races.

Alioto-Pier and Lee are both Democrats, while Hall brags he
is a "lifelong registered independent." He has been a lone voice
attacking both of the pension reform measures on the November ballot as falling
short of solving the city's looming benefit obligations for city employees.

Log Cabin chapter President Dan Brown
said Hall's long tenure working in various
departments at City Hall and his economic policy stances swayed the club's
members to pick him.

"I think our members feel, anyway, out of the
candidates in the race he is the one who aligns most closely with most of our
issues in terms of business, economy, jobs, hiring, etc.," said Brown.

The gay GOPers are now the second LGBT political group to
snub former Supervisor Bevan Dufty, the
only gay candidate among the mayoral race's top-tier of candidates. The Harvey
Milk LGBT Democratic Club also overlooked Dufty in the race, voting last week
to endorse Supervisor John Avalos
for first place.

This Tuesday, September 6 the progressive political group is
expected to give a dual second-place endorsement to City Attorney Dennis
Herrera and state Senator Leland
Yee (D-San Francisco). The club initially
had planned not to dilute its endorsement in the mayoral race but changed
course last week at its August 23 meeting and approved a proposal to hold a
vote on the second place nods.

The more moderate Alice B. Toklas LGBT Democratic Club will
vote this month on a proposed endorsement ranking of Herrera first, Dufty
second and Lee third at its September 12 meeting. Dufty, though, is fighting to
secure Alice's first-place nod.

Electing San Francisco's first gay mayor didn't play into Log
Cabin's decision-making process in terms of whom to endorse for mayor, said
Brown.

"There wasn't too much of an issue over many social
issues since there aren't any anti-gay candidates certainly running for city
government in San Francisco, so we were more focused on the other issues,"
said Brown.

As for the district attorney race, Log Cabin gave a sole
endorsement to former prosecutor and defense attorney Bill Fazio
, the only candidate in the five-person race who
accepted an invite to speak to the group.

And in the sheriff's race former police union head Chris
Cunnie secured Log Cabin's number one
endorsement. Sheriff's Captain Paul
Miyamoto won the group's second place endorsement.

"There was only a one-vote difference. Had Chris not
gotten into the race, Paul would have been our only endorsement," said
Brown.

Rainbow flag to be lowered

The gigantic rainbow flag flying over the Castro will be
lowered for two days this month, which will mark a first since it was installed
on November 8, 1997.

Responding to community requests, the Merchants of Upper
Market and Castro has decided to fly the flag above the Castro Muni station at
half-mast beginning on the morning of September 11, to honor Mark Bingham, a
local gay man, and the other victims of the terrorist attacks that occurred 10
years ago that day.

"As I understand it, the president has ordered all
flags lowered to half-mast that day, so we will lower ours for Mark and the
other LGBT individuals who passed away," said MUMC President Steve
Adams.

MUMC will keep the flag lowered through September 12 to
honor Project Open Hand founder Ruth Brinker, who died last month. Her memorial
service will be held that evening at City Hall.

It remains to be seen if MUMC's decision will have any
impact on the ongoing controversy surrounding when to lower the LGBT
community's iconic symbol in order to honor the deceased.

The flag flap was sparked earlier this year when the Castro
business group, which pays for and oversees the flagpole at Harvey Milk Plaza,
at first refused to lower the rainbow flag to honor the death of gay Ugandan
activist David Kato. MUMC eventually reversed course and did fly the flag at
half-mast during a February rally.

MUMC also faced criticism in March when it declined to lower
the flag following the death of actress and AIDS activist Elizabeth Taylor.
Last month the dispute flared up again when MUMC failed to find a way to raise
a donated New York state flag to mark the start of same-sex marriages in the
Empire State.

The arguments show no signs of abating. It heated up this
week with MUMC's suggestion that activists erect a second flagpole in front of
the city's LGBT Community Center.

MUMC's board also informed local blogger Michael Petrelis
, one of the most vocal critics of having the
merchants in charge of the flagpole, it had denied his requests that it fly an
American flag below the rainbow flag on Veterans Day, November 11 and lower it
to half-mast on World AIDS Day, December 1.

MUMC said it cannot fly two flags on the pole and cited flag
protocol – the Stars and Stripes is not supposed to fly beneath other
flags – in rejecting the first proposal. As for the second suggestion,
MUMC said the flag is a symbol of hope that should only be lowered on rare
occasions "and only in the case that someone widely
recognized as a local LGBT hero dies."

It did say it is looking at
affixing a red ribbon to either the flag or pole on World AIDS Day. And it
suggested Petrelis and others work with the LGBT center to erect a flagpole in
front of the Market Street building "for the purpose of political action
and awareness."

The center's executive director, Rebecca
Rolfe, said the building can't support a
flagpole on its roof. But she said she is willing to discuss possibly putting
one in front of the facility.

"We do have capacity to hang flags off the side of the
building, but that doesn't resolve the issue of half-mast," she said.

Petrelis has called on the city to
take back control of the flagpole, while at least one member of MUMC criticized
the group for its latest decisions. Antiques dealer Isak Lindenauer
, who had asked the flag be lowered for Taylor and Brinker,
became so frustrated about the flag controversy that last week he posted a
lengthy letter in his storefront window.

This week Lindenauer called MUMC's
suggestion that a second flagpole be built "both a dodge at best
and divisive in the extreme."

"This flag is made up of the blood of our martyrs and
the hopes and dreams of all of us who have dared to speak our names as free gay
men and women," wrote Lindenauer in an email sent to Castro leaders.
"I know you can do better. I trust and believe and hope we can all do
better. Please reconsider using this flag, which belongs to the world, for more
than just our 'village.' It takes a village first. Yes. We have done that. Now
let us work to use this flag for the good of the whole world."

Adams said he plans to announce the September lowering of
the flag at this morning's (Thursday, September 1) MUMC meeting. It likely
won't be the last time the gayborhood's merchant group addresses the issue.

LGBT bills head to governor

Several LGBT bills are headed to Governor Jerry Brown
for his signature this month.

The state Assembly Tuesday, August 30 adopted a bill that
would allow the state's judicial nominees to self-identify as LGBT. It is aimed
at ensuring the LGBT community is properly represented within the state court
system. It is unknown how many of the roughly 1,600 justices are LGBT because
no agency tracks such information.

State Senator Ellen Corbett (D-San Leandro) introduced SB 182, known as the Judicial Applicant and
Appointment Demographics Inclusion Act, and the state Senate passed it in July.

The Gender Non-Discrimination
Act, or AB 887, is also expected to land on
Brown's desk for his signature. The Senate passed the legislation Tuesday and
it now heads back to the Assembly for a concurrence vote, likely to take
place this week.

While California
anti-discrimination laws already define "gender" to include a
person's gender identity and gender expression, AB 887 explicitly enumerates
gender identity and expression as protected categories in a number of state
codes to provide clarity to those who are victims of unlawful discrimination as
well as for business owners, employers and other entities required to comply
with the anti-discrimination protections.

"California has been
fortunate to have laws protecting our workers and students from discrimination
for several years," stated Masen Davis
, executive director of the Transgender Law Center.
"Unfortunately those rights have been hidden, making it hard for employees
to know they are protected and for employers to know their responsibilities.
The Gender Non-Discrimination Act brings our rights out of the closet and
brings California one step closer to achieving its potential."

Brown has not signaled his
intentions but both bills are likely to become law.

Political Notes, the notebook's online companion, will return
Monday, September 12.